Author: Chas.

MonsterFest Wrap-Up

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MonsterFest 2018 is now in the history books.

As always, we had a great time visiting Dr. Phibes and Co. There was lots of beer, cocktails, and tasty food. Saturday, we went on a boat trip to Cumberland Island and got to see Dolphins. That was super cool. That afternoon, Dr. Phibes and I went and saw the new Halloween movie. We thought it was aces! Don’t listen to the haters.

We also watched and seriously loved The Curious World of Christine McConnell (which is now streaming on Netflix). It’s so wonderfully weird and quirky. We laughed quite a bit.

How can you not love Rose (reanimated roadkill with lots of sass … and a nipple fetish)?
Rose Loves Nipples
Rose Loves Nipples

The drives down and back were quite annoying. It seems like you can’t go anywhere now-a-days without road construction and dumbass drivers making the trip long and frustrating. We did end up detouring on the way down (because of a wreck) and got to see some tiny BFE crossroads towns in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. It was cool because a lot of those little towns still had beautiful 100 year-old homes. I want a big, rambling, 100 year-old home (preferably with ghosts)!

Anyhoo …

MonsterFest 2018 Movies:
Halloween (1978)
The Changeling
Murder Party 
Wonder Women
Cat People
Planet of the Vampires
The Devil’s Rain
The Colour of Blood (Thriller, S01E05)
Halloween (2018)
Near Dark
Insidious
The Skull
The Curious World of Christine McConnell (Season 1)
The Horror of Party Beach
Asylum 
The Psychopath 
The Mummy (1959)

MonsterFest Wrap-Up

MonsterFest Pre-Trippin’

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The annual trek to Florida for a visit with Dr. Phibes and Co. (and celebrate MonsterFest) is upon us! There’s packing to do and work to catch up on before leaving. Thankfully I engineered it so that I don’t have to spend the whole evening doing laundry. Yay (said with enthusiasm).

How many horror movies will we consume this year? We shall know in the cold light of day on Monday.

So, tomorrow is a travel day. Yay (said with sarcasm).

Meanwhile … enjoy the Cocteau Twins’ swan song.

MonsterFest Pre-Trippin’

Upcoming!

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Criterion Collection: Hitchcock's Notorious
Super stoked that Criterion has announced a new blu-ray edition of one of my favoritest movies of all time …. Alfred Hitchcock’s Notorious! Such an amazingly romantic and thrilling film. Plus, Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. What more do you need? It streets on January 19, 2019.

  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack on the Blu-ray
  • Audio commentaries from 1990 and 2001 featuring Alfred Hitchcock scholar Marian Keane and film historian Rudy Behlmer
  • New interview with Hitchcock biographer Donald Spoto
  • New program about the film’s visuals with cinematographer John Bailey
  • New scene analysis by film scholar David Bordwell
  • Once Upon a Time . . . “Notorious,” a 2009 documentary about the film featuring actor Isabella Rossellini; filmmakers Peter Bogdanovich, Claude Chabrol, and Stephen Frears; and others
  • New program about Hitchcock’s storyboarding and previsualization process by filmmaker Daniel Raim
  • 1948 newsreel footage of actor Ingrid Bergman and Hitchcock
  • 1948 Lux Radio Theatre adaptation of Notorious, starring Bergman and Joseph Cotten
  • Trailers and teasers
  • PLUS: An essay by critic Angelica Jade Bastién
Upcoming!

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Chas.Leave a comment

Good Lord. Another weekend … another four moonshine tastings in everyone’s favorite tourist trap … Gatlinburg.

Houston, I think we have a problem! 😛

Tastiness!

After all the drinking, we hit up the Mysterious Mansion for their special Halloween haunt. I didn’t scream like a little girl when we got chased by the guy with the chainsaw. Fun times!
Mysterious Mansion!

Oh, and … it was my birthday this past Saturday. 47! It was a pretty low-key day. I did get some more cool birthday presents. These gifts were really cool cocktail/bartending books and more Hitchcock blu-rays (and not anything of the sexxxy variety). Only three more years until I hit the big 5-0.

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Pre-Weekend

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The bosses have been out of town since Tuesday. I have been wearing three different hats here at work … and guess who is stressed out and distracted today. Ugh. Plus, I still need to do laundry and get the yard mowed today. Double Ugh.

So, enjoy this shirtless picture of some random guy while I regroup.
Random Hot Guy

Meanwhile … guess who has a birthday tomorrow. 47. Where did the time go?

Pre-Weekend

High Hopes

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The trailer for the new movie version of Pet Sematary dropped today … and it looks pretty damn fine! Pet Sematary is probably the most disturbing book I have ever read. So, imagine my disappointment when the 1989 film version turned out to be campy and not at all scary or disturbing. Mary Lambert (director) and Stephen King (who adapted his own book for the screenplay) dropped the ball BIG TIME. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I HATE what they put on film. Here’s hoping that Kevin Kölsch / Dennis Widmyer (directors) and Jeff Buhler (screenplay) give Pet Sematary some much needed big screen justice. We have to wait until April 2019 to find out though. Bummer.

High Hopes

Flashback [Avenue Q Edition]

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The Boyfriend and I went this past weekend to Asheville Community Theatre‘s production of Avenue Q. I really think it is one of the most genius musical ever written and it was fun to see it live again. It got me thinking about the production I directed at our local theater exactly five years ago (September 20 – October 6, 2013).

I didn’t post anything about the show back when we did it. I was in a bit of a funk about this blog and got very bad about posting things. Bad of me, I know.

I have never been a fan of saying “best cast/best show I have ever worked on.” All shows are different and to say “this one’s the best” seems to be dismissive of other shows/casts you have worked on/with. That being said … Chuck (the Music Director) and I managed to assemble the perfect cast. Everyone matched perfectly with their characters and worked really hard at mastering the puppeteering. They made directing the show so easy.

There was some stress about the set. The Executive Director of the theater got freaked out about the infamous “pussy” line about three weeks out from opening and we had a row about if it should stay in the show or not. Thankfully, I prevailed (somehow) and it did end up staying in the show. And, I got yelled at by the him because I blasted the editor of the local paper because they didn’t give us any coverage going into opening weekend. But, those are the things you deal with when putting on a show.

We had THE BEST TIME EVER doing this show. I cried during the finale of the final performance because it was over. I could have watched these fine people work their magic on that stage for so many more weeks.

Here’s the cast and crew …
Avenue Q presented by HART Theatre

You see a crap-ton more photos (142 to be exact) by clicking the “continue reading” link …

Continue reading “Flashback [Avenue Q Edition]” →

Flashback [Avenue Q Edition]

Alert!

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I’M SPECIAL! For some reason I did not get the highly anticipated Presidential Alert that was sent out at 2:18 pm this afternoon. Oh well. I guess Trump doesn’t have a direct pipeline to my phone. That makes me sad.

Presidential Alert

One of my friends on Facebook posted this in regards to the alert:
“To America the land of the free! Your privacy has just been violated and our country has been breached of our constitutional rights …”

Jeez. I don’t like Trump either but that’s just a little hyperbolic. [SMH]

Alert!

Updating Update

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So, I survived the Thursday Physical. I was fully expecting to get bad news but, apparently, I am doing pretty well as I near 47. The doc was pleased with my weight loss and my blood pressure/cholesterol/blood sugar and all that jazz were in acceptable ranges. My balls checked out as well. Yay! I was informed that at 50, I will start getting prostate checks and colonoscopies. It’s such fun getting older.

Saturday was pretty damn busy. We went to Asheville to one the many Halloween stores. I actually bought my costume for this year … though I am still feeling a bit freaked out about the cost of it.

Robin Costume
Appropriate … no?

Afterwards, we hit up Blue Ridge Pride since one our friends bands was playing the main stage.

Modern Strangers rocked the crowd.
Modern Strangers at Blue Ridge Pride 2018

Meanwhile, the obligatory religious nuts told everyone they were going to hell.
Blue Ridge Pride 2018

It’s interesting to see how big this pride festival has gotten. I went one of the first years this was organized (back in 2006) and it was pretty underwhelming. The festival was so small it was in an empty storefront at the Westgate Shopping Center. This year it was huge with three stages, a ton of vendors and a lot of homos and homo supporters hanging out and having a great time. It’s cool to see Pride going strong here in the mountains.

After putting in that appearance at Pride, we rushed back to Cullowhee to catch the WCU School of Stage and Screen‘s production of Cabaret. The show was pretty good and the orchestra (under the direction of Kristen Hedberg) really rocked. I must confess I was worried about being hyper-critical since I directed a production of Cabaret 11 years ago.
Cabaret at WCU

Yesterday, I was stupidly lazy … though PT and I did manage a walk around Lake J. I did also manage to finally watch Robert Altman’s Images (a really sweet film). And … I ate too much bacon. And … I also snagged blackberry cobbler from my dad. Now I just need to do 2 more hours a day on the treadmill to work all that off.

And in sad news, we found out yesterday that Reta Scribner passed away on Saturday (after not being in great health for quite a while). She did a crap ton of shows with us at the theater (starting in 1994) and was seriously one of the sweetest people you could ever hope to meet.

Here we are at a New Year’s Eve party back in 2008.
Reta Scribner

So long, Reta. You will be missed!

Updating Update